Italian language and cultural school for foreigners

Painting with a view of Florence
In the cradle of the Renaissance

Art history courses

The art history courses are organised in cycles of at least 10 hours, over one or two weeks.

Classes are held in Italian, all teachers have a degree in art history and a great deal of teaching experience; they are also official tour guides authorised by the City of Florence.
Entrance fees to museums are not included in the course price.

 

We also organize online art history courses for one or more people. Contact us and describe your needs. We will reply ASAP.

Prices

First 10 hours 670
For every additional 10 hours 620
Thematic courses 380

Course starts every Monday.

Prices valid upon enrolment.

National holidays observed 2026:
6 January, 6 April, 1 May, 24 June, 8 December.

National holidays observed 2027:
6 January, 29 March, 2, 24 June, 1 November, 8 December.

From the Middle ages to the early Renaissance

  • Historical introduction to the Middle Ages and to the city of Florence during this period.
  • The Medieval man and the man of the early Renaissance.
  • The great changes that took place in society: the transition from rural life to urbanisation. The great need for spirituality, the idea of ​​the world and the afterlife of this era.
  • The construction of cathedrals.
  • The mendicant orders.
  • Public buildings.
  • Trading relations with the Arab world.
  • Historic, social, economical, and philosophical changes that lead to the birth of a new man.

From early Renaissance to late Renaissance

  • The different artistic languages that characterise the Florentine art scene.
  • The artists who follow the most radical and innovative movement...that of Masaccio, Brunelleschi and Donatello.
  • The members of a traditional movement of the late fourteenth century and the movement of moderate artists, in other words those who approached innovation cautiously.
  • The other pole of artistic renewal....The Flemish and their renaissance.
  • The other centres of Italian Renaissance which include Urbino and Piero della Francesca.
  • The art scene in Florence at the end of the fifteenth century.
  • The great workshops: those of Verrocchio, of the Pollaiolos and of the della Robbias.

The Cinquecento

  • Painting in Venice: the affirmation of ‘tonal’ painting.
  • Giorgione and Titian and the alternative choices of Sebastiano del Piombo, the artist who combined the innovations of Giorgione and Titian’s painting with the reflection on ancient art.
  • Leonardo da Vinci: from Florentine beginnings to the Milan season.
  • Leonardo, man of science who expressed the most ancient values of humanism.
  • Michelangelo, from Florentine beginnings to the great Roman season.
  • Michelangelo: painter, sculptor, architect and poet.
  • The great works of Michelangelo for the Medici.
  • Raffaello, from the beginnings in Perugino's workshop to his stay in Florence and to the great Roman season.

Mannerist Art

  • The great legacy of Raffaello, Michelangelo and Leonardo.
  • The spread of a classical and a Mannerist trend.
  • The great figures of Pontormo, Rosso Fiorentino and Andrea del Sarto.
  • Refined and cultured art at the court of Cosimo de Medici and in other European courts.
  • Especially Palazzo Vecchio and Piazza della Signoria: Gianbologna, Cellini and Ammanati.
  • Boboli Gardens: extraordinary example of the Italian garden, result of a refined and intellectual society such as the one of the second half of the sixteenth century.

The Seicento

  • Rome at the beginning of the seventeenth century: capital of the Catholic restoration.
  • The key figures of the renovation of painting in Rome: Caravaggio, from the Lombard beginnings to the season in Rome, the Caracci, from the Academy in Bologna to the Roman setting.
  • Genre painting, the naturalist movement and the classical movement.
  • Caravaggio and his influence.
  • The great Baroque art of Rome and the painting of the seventeenth century in the rest of Europe: Bernini, Borromini, Pietro da Cortona, Rubens…
  • Florentine painting of the seventeenth century.

Thematic courses of history of art

5 hour courses (covering different periods of art history)

Topics:

  • The Medici: story of a dynasty that made art its instrument of power. Visit to Palazzo Medici and Palazzo Vecchio.
  • Potions and poisons, alchemy and art in Florence of the past. Visit to the age-old Santa Maria Novella Pharmacy and to Francesco I's studio, a place of wonders inside Palazzo Vecchio.
  • The history and evolution of costumes. Visit to the Costume Museum in Palazzo Pitti.
  • History and evolution of footwear. Visit to the Ferragamo museum.
  • History of Renaissance Florence: what life was like in the city of Humanism. Visit to the Davanzati Museum and the Horne Museum.
  • History of sculpture. Visit to the Bargello Museum and Piazza della Signoria.
  • History of the fresco and the great cycles of frescoes to be found in Florence. Visit to the church of Santa Maria Novella and Santa Trinita Church.
  • History of perfume and its evolution through an olfactory visit.

It is also possible to request single-subject lessons (5 hours) on: Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and other artists.

  1. Centro Machiavelli ›
  2. History of art courses